Accused money launderer for 'El Chapo' extradited to San Diego

A close associate to drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been extradited from Mexico to face charges in San Diego federal court of heading a money-laundering ring on behalf of the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

Victor Manuel Felix-Felix was being held in a Mexican prison when he and 28 others were indicted in 2011 as part of a massive drug-trafficking and money-laundering case.

He was extradited on Monday and he made his initial appearance in front of a San Diego judge on Tuesday afternoon.

Felix-Felix, also known as “El Senor,” is the father-in-law of one of Guzman’s sons and also the godfather to one of his children.

He is the lead defendant in the prosecution, which alleges an operation that spanned five countries: the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ecuador and Columbia.

The amount of cash and drugs outlined in the indictment suggest the big leagues — an operation that didn’t just operate in millions of dollars but hundreds of millions of dollars.

The case revolved around a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who went undercover and infiltrated the operation, according to the indictment. The agent was aided by other law enforcement officials who went undercover, as well as confidential informants. The agent posed as a manager of a worldwide criminal organization that could transport ton quantities of drugs and move millions of dollars in bulk currency, including depositing the money into a bank account in San Diego — an account held secretly by the DEA — and wiring funds to other banks, according to the indictment.

Alleged couriers for Felix-Felix would deliver the bulk cash to the agent or other operatives to be laundered, the indictment states.

The indictment outlines several transactions involving the undercover agent.

On June 3, 2009, associates of Felix-Felix met with the agent in Panama City, Panama, and said they were interested in obtaining the agent’s services to pick up more than $300 million located in New York, Los Angeles and Houston. The money was to be flown to Mexico as well as laundered through the U.S. banking system so it could be accessed by the cartel in Mexico, the indictment alleges.

In November of that year, one of the associates called the agent and asked for a bulk money pick up of $10 million in New York and another $10 million in Washington, D.C., with the sum to be transported to Mexico City, according to the indictment.

In November 2010, Felix-Felix himself was accused of coordinating the pickup of $1 million in Canadian currency to be transported to Bogota, Colombia, in a phone call with the agent, the indictment states.

Felix-Felix is also accused of directing the shipment of large loads of cocaine, including a cargo truck load of about 2,500 kilograms of cocaine within Ecuador. The drugs were seized by Ecuadorian National Police.

In January 2011, Felix-Felix sent an email to the undercover agent in San Diego confirming the arrangement of a 2,000 kilogram delivery of cocaine to the agent in Ecuador, the indictment alleges. Three days later, an associate delivered about 500 kilograms to a confidential informant, according to the court document.

The case highlighted the DEA’s controversial practice of laundering drug proceeds as part of undercover investigations. In this case, $13 million was laundered by agents during the sting, an amount that the government wants back in forfeitures. Prosecutors are also asking for $76.2 million, the proceeds from drug trafficking in the case, to be forfeited.